...in giving Wembley a huge thumbs-down.

Or am I wrong? Are we all singing from the same Wembley hymn-sheet tonight> BLOODY AWFUL.

I liked it.

However, one thing did get on my nerves.

The dance floor had a huge mini stage in the middle.

As if anyone cares, there was good and bad.
The good was that someone (Robbie Savage and Ola) went out of their way to really put on a show, beyond a gimmick.
The bad was that the 'glorious' long shots of the dancers in that huge arena exposed them for being the indifferent amateurs that they are, in the middle of an extravagant lot of hype. A bit like flies on a wedding cake.

I agree with these. I really enjoyed tonight, thought the atmosphere was great and loved the opening dance with the audience doing the 'We Will Rock You' clap. I enjoyed the dances and was really nice seeing everyone having a great time, regardless of how well they danced. The centre stage was a slight nuisence, I think the dances would have flowed better if it was just the floor, but I guess they were just trying too hard to make it different. But overall I had a thoroughly enjoyable time watching it and it made my Saturday night

Awful. Poor selection of dances for the space and completely inappropriate music choices. Don't think the raised platform in the middle of the stage was a good idea either.

I hated it. Far too big and the acoustics were dreadful.

I don't know why there are so many who panned the Wembley show. I thought it was really good. I don't like Russell, and that's about it.

With the exception of one dance, most of the scores were in the ballpark.

I esp. liked Chelsee and Pasha's samba, and pity about the mistakes, Jason's jive was a very good attempt.

Really? I'd almost rather watch Morris Dancing at the Dog and Duck

What do you expect the show to be? CIrque du Soleil?

I'm really surprised you liked Chelsee and Pasha so much

Will be interesting to get comments from those who were there?

Brendan tried that, bless 'im. Though I never saw dead deer, blind monkeys or Spiderman in one of their shows I have to admit.

rubbish, no atmosphere.

It was such a let down. Awful atmosphere, awful song choices, most routines were a let down, apart from a couple.

No more Wembley!!

Thank goodness i am not alone, WHAT was wrong with Blackpool ??? Tonight i felt the music was a let down and the floor far to big for the routines!!! i felt the dances would have been better showcased in the usual studio!!!!

They are going Blackpool in the final. That should be good as series 2 final was in Blackpool as well...

Well I Enjoyed It....loved every minute of it.

And the ending, I'm guessing, is how they do it on the Tour.

Thanks for that!! I didnt watch the first couple of series, a final in Blackpool is something to look forward to.

That could be true! Gives us folk who have never seen the Tour an impression of the atmosphere of it

I think it could work, but they needed to make the arena look more intimate. I think they should've made the dance floor smaller by adding more seats and got the couples to dance 'in the round' (the raised stage which they had tonight). There would be more focus on the technique as space would be limited for tricks, having the audience closer would create that intimate feel and the camerawork would be easier to stomach.

Obviously the dances would have to be more of the Argentine Tango/Salsa/Rumba/Tango/Samba quality than Quickstep/Jive/Viennese Waltz which needs the whole floor.

This is what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqTrWRgBwuU&=

Really enjoyed it, the lighting was spot-on, and so much brighter and clearer. A real spectacle of an event, apart from some of the props (which we can do without)

well, i guess you had to be there, which i was, and it was a-maz-ing. The atmosphere was brilliant and to sustain it for the length of time we were there was testament to the quality of the entertainment. Just outstanding!

I felt the dancers really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was obviously electric BUT technically (sound and camera) it really was poor on TV.

Did you take opera glasses tallula?

The dancers were really swallowed up on that huge stage and a few times during the night I thought to myself "that routine would have looked awesome in the studio." It was very admirable of some of the pros to make as much use of the space as they could (e.g. Ola and Artem), and I wish they could have had a mark or two thrown their way to acknowledge that. However, it was those who contained the dance to the centre plinth who ended up top of the leaderboard.

The atmosphere came across well though, so it wasn't all squinting "where are the dancers?" eyes.

So basically the title of this thread should be "Strictly fans not united and everyone has their own opinion...as usual"